162 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE 



ward the bills of Spain; reached St. George's hall, and 

 went still higher, emerging on the summit of one of the 

 noblest cliffs I have ever seen. 



Beyond were the Spanish lines, marked by a line of 

 white sentry-boxes; nearer were the English lines, less 

 conspicuously indicated; and between both was the neu- 

 tral ground. Behind the Spanish lines rose the conical 

 hill called the Queen of Spain's Chair. The general as- 

 pect of the mainland from the rock is bold and rugged. 

 Doubling back from the galleries, we struck upward 

 toward the crest, reached the Signal Station, where we 

 indulged in " shandy -gaff" and bread and cheese. Thence 

 to O'Hara's Tower, the highest point of the rock. It 

 was built by a former governor, who, forgetful of the 

 laws of terrestrial curvature, thought he might look from 

 the tower into the port of Cadiz. The tower is riven, and 

 it may be climbed along the edges of the crack. We got 

 to the top of it; thence descended the curious Mediter- 

 ranean Stair a zigzag, mostly of steps down a steeply 

 falling slope, amid palmetto brush, aloes, and prickly 

 pear. 



Passing over the Windmill Hill, we were joined at the 

 "Governor's Cottage" by a car, and drove afterward to 

 the lighthouse at Europa Point. The tower was built, 

 I believe, by Queen Adelaide, and it contains a fine diop- 

 tric apparatus of the first order, constructed by Messrs. 

 Chance, of Birmingham. At the appointed hour we were 

 at the Convent. During dinner the same genial traits 

 which appeared in the morning were still more conspic- 

 uous. The freshness of the Governor's nature showed 

 itself best when he spoke of his old antagonist in arms, 

 Mouravieff. Chivalry in war is consistent with its stern 



